The video game giant Activision Blizzard Inc. has fired more than 37 employees as well as issued discipline on 44 more employees over allegations of sexual harassment since July of 2021.
A summary of these allegations was supposed to be prepared before the holiday season of 2021, however, Activision’s chief executive Bobby Kotick pushed to delay the report to ensure that all the information was properly gathered and reported on.
Activision has been in hot water ever since a California state agency filed a lawsuit on the company over harassment claims and was then followed up by investigations showing that Mr. Kotick himself gave a death threat to one of his assistants over a voicemail.
Activision has stated that the company agreed to a settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over these sexual harassment claims and is now only waiting for the approval of a judge. The company has since then implemented zero-tolerance harassment and discrimination policy.
Despite Activision’s apparent desire to make right of the situation, the company has sustained significant damage in which the company may struggle to rectify. Activision’s share price has dropped over 30% since the initial lawsuit in July and over half of the company’s 10,000 employees has signed a petition demanding Bobby Kotick's resignation.
Source: Wall Street Journal
